Chapter 27 Corin
CORIN
She wasn't at his house.
Corin stood in the empty kitchen, the cold seeping through the walls, and tried to convince himself that meant nothing. She'd needed space. That didn't mean she was gone.
But his bear knew. Had known the moment he'd walked through the door and found her scent fading, hours old instead of fresh. Had known from the silence that pressed against him like a weight.
He drove to her cottage.
The lights were off. Her car was gone. He told himself she'd just gone to Freya's, or Twyla's, or anywhere else in this small town where someone might have offered her comfort.
He knocked anyway.
No answer.
He tried the door. Unlocked. That wasn't like her. Chloe always locked up, a habit born from years of being an outsider in places that didn't want her.
The cottage was dark and still. He moved through it slowly, his bear's senses cataloging every detail.
The kitchen was clean, dishes put away. The small living room looked the same as always, books stacked on the side table, a blanket folded over the arm of the couch.
Everything untouched besides the bedroom.
Her closet door hung open. Empty hangers where her clothes should have been. The dresser drawers pulled out, half their contents missing. Her suitcase, the battered green one she'd had when she first arrived in Hollow Oak, was gone.
He stood in the doorway in a sense of knowing shock.
She'd packed. She'd actually packed and left.
The way she'd looked after the meeting. The hollow sound of her voice when she'd asked what she'd ever done to deserve this. The careful way she'd said she needed time, like she was already saying goodbye.
He'd seen it. He'd known, somewhere deep in his gut, that she was closer to breaking than she'd ever been. And he'd let her walk away because she'd asked him to, because he'd thought giving her space was the right thing to do.
His phone was in his hand before he'd made the conscious decision to call. Elias answered on the second ring.
"She's gone."
A pause. "Gone where?"
"I don't know. Her cottage is empty. Clothes missing, suitcase gone. She left."
"When?"
"I don't know. Hours ago, maybe. Her scent's fading." His voice cracked on the last word, and he hated himself for it. "I should have seen this coming. After the meeting, the way she looked, I should have known."
"You gave her what she asked for."
"I gave her a chance to run." He slammed his palm against the doorframe, the pain grounding him. "I should have stayed. Should have made her talk to me instead of letting her disappear."
"Corin." Elias's voice was steady, calm. The voice he used when things were falling apart. "Panicking isn't going to help. Where would she go?"
"I don't know. She doesn't have anywhere. That's the whole point. She came here because she had nowhere else."
"Then she hasn't gone far. Think. Where would she feel safe?"
Safe. Chloe had spent her whole life not feeling safe. The only places she'd found comfort in Hollow Oak were Freya's shop, Twyla's cafe, and his arms. None of those were options if she was running.
"The inn," he said suddenly. "Diana's place. She mentioned once that Miriam had been kind to her when she first arrived. If she needed somewhere to stay without being found..."
"Then that's where you start."
Corin was already moving, phone pressed to his ear as he strode out of the cottage and toward his truck. The night air was bitter, the kind of cold that warned of coming snow. If Chloe was out there somewhere, driving mountain roads in the dark...
"I'll meet you there," Elias said.
"No. Stay by the phone. If she calls anyone, it'll be Freya or Twyla. Let them know what's happening. And check the roads out of town. If she's trying to leave..."
"I'll handle it."
Corin hung up and threw himself into the truck. The engine roared to life, headlights cutting through the darkness as he pulled onto the road.
The land felt wrong. He noticed it as he drove, a creeping wrongness that really had absolutely nothing to do with the poisoned well or the dying plants. This was different. Quieter. Like the earth itself was holding its breath.
Chloe's druid blood. Her connection to the soil. When she was here, working in Freya's garden or walking through his orchard, he could feel her presence like a warmth at the edge of his awareness. Not the mate bond, exactly. Something older. Something tied to the land they both loved.
Now that warmth was gone. The land had gone silent because she had.
He pressed the accelerator harder, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. The Hearth & Hollow Inn appeared around the bend, its windows glowing soft gold against the night. Diana's car was in the drive. So was another car he didn't recognize.
Small. Blue. Battered green suitcase visible through the back window.
Chloe.
He was out of the truck before it fully stopped, taking the porch steps two at a time. The door opened before he could knock, and Diana Merrick stood in the entrance, her honey-blonde hair loose around her shoulders, her amber eyes sharp with warning.
"She doesn't want to see anyone."
"I don't care."
"Corin." Diana didn't move from the doorway. "She came here because she needed somewhere safe. Somewhere no one would pressure her."
"I'm not going to pressure her. I just need to know she's okay."
"She's not okay. She's upstairs, crying, convinced she's the reason this town is falling apart." Diana's voice softened slightly. "Give her tonight. Let her rest. You can talk in the morning."
"I can't." The words came out raw, desperate. "I can't just leave her here thinking she has to run. That's not... she doesn't have to run. Not from me. Not from any of this."
"Then tell her that. Tomorrow."
"Diana."
"She asked me not to let anyone up." Diana crossed her arms, her small frame somehow immovable. "I'm not going to break that promise. Not even for you."
He wanted to push past her and storm up those stairs and find Chloe and make her understand that leaving would break him in ways he didn't know how to survive. But Diana was right. Chloe had asked for this. Had chosen to come here specifically because she knew Diana would protect her space.
If he pushed now, he'd only prove that her fears were justified. That she couldn't trust anyone to respect her choices.
"Tell her I came," he said finally. "Tell her I'm not angry. Tell her..." He swallowed hard. "Tell her the land went quiet when she left. I felt it. The whole town felt it. She belongs here, Diana. Whether she believes it or not."
"I'll tell her."
"And tell her I'll be here in the morning. First thing. And I'm not leaving until she talks to me."
"I'll tell her that too."
He stood on the porch for a long moment, staring at the inn's warm windows, knowing she was somewhere behind them. Close enough to touch. Too far to reach.
His bear howled inside him, demanding he go to her, claim her, make her understand that she was his and nothing would ever change that. But he held himself back.
This wasn't about what he wanted. It was about what she needed.
She needed to know she had choices. Needed to believe she could leave if she wanted to, that no one would force her to stay.
And then, tomorrow, he'd give her every reason to choose to come back.
He walked to his truck on legs that felt like lead. The drive home was a blur, the cold night pressing in from all sides, the silence of the land echoing the emptiness in his chest.
She was still here. Still in Hollow Oak. That was something.
But the fear remained, a cold knot in his stomach that wouldn't loosen.
He'd come so close to losing her. Still might, if he couldn't find the right words tomorrow. If he couldn't make her see that running wouldn't solve anything, that the only way through this was together.
He pulled into his driveway and sat in the dark truck, staring at his empty house.
Tomorrow. He'd fix this tomorrow. He had to. Because a life without Chloe wasn't a life he wanted to live.